Shimazu Mitsukasu

Shimazu Mitsukasu (Japanese: 島津みつカズ) was a Sonno Joi movement member and a retainer of Emperor Komei. Mitsukasu was sent by Komei himself to murder two Americans, leading to the Kagoshima Incident in 1863.

Biography
Shimazu Mitsukasu was born in the Satsuma Domain to a Shinto family, and he became a retainer to Emperor Komei in Edo. Mitsukasu was a leader of the imperialist Sonno Joi movement in the years preceding the Boshin War in the 1860s, and he was opposed to the West exploiting Japan for its own benefit. In 1863, Mitsukasu was sent by Emperor Komei to assassinate Americans Porter Samuels and Riley Wheeldon, and Mitsukasu, Minamoto Tokikuni, and Okazaki Atsutake headed to Kagoshima to kill the two Americans. The three samurai killed the two Americans, leading to the Bombardment of Kagoshima and eventually to the Boshin War.